"On her son's grave she will write 'how good that she was murdered'": Mother of the hostage sues the Haredi columnist

Iris Haim, mother of the late Yotam Haim who was kidnapped and mistakenly shot by the IDF, filed a defamation lawsuit against Haredi columnist Dov Halbertal. The lawsuit, filed in the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court, alleges that Halbertal published a defamatory post calling her a "whore of bereavement" and writing "how good that she was murdered." Halbertal claimed he deleted the post and apologized.

Iris Haim, mother of the late Yotam Haim, filed a defamation lawsuit against Haredi columnist Dov Halbertal in the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court. The lawsuit, for 169,000 shekels, was filed following a post Halbertal published on Facebook on May 10, in which he called her a "whore of bereavement," "this despicable woman," and "a fame-seeker who has only shone since her son's murder." The post ended with the words: "On her son's grave she will write: 'How good that she was murdered.' What a kindness Hamas did for her." Halbertal published the remarks amid a rumor that Haim's name was reserved on the Likud list for the Knesset. Haim strongly denied that she had been approached by any list or party. The lawsuit claims Halbertal acted with awareness and intent to harm her, and that his choice of a photo showing her next to a drawing of her son was meant to increase the harm. Halbertal responded to the pre-lawsuit warning letter, did not deny writing the remarks, and claimed he deleted the post on his own initiative after a day or two. He offered to apologize and meet with the family. Haim's lawyers called his response "a peak of outrageous cynicism." Yotam Haim was kidnapped on October 7, 2023, managed to escape Hamas captivity along with two other hostages, and was mistakenly shot by IDF soldiers on December 15 after five days in the combat zone.